Glass containers are often composed of so-called “soda-lime glass,” also called “soda-lime-silica glass,” and many such containers are colored to absorb ultraviolet radiation, and include green glass, blue glass, amber glass, and the like. For example, a base flint glass may be melted in a glass melt furnace and, downstream of the furnace, in one or more forehearths, colorants may be added to the base glass to impart green, blue, or amber hues to the glass. U.S. patents that illustrate glass compositions of this type for glass containers include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,974,052, 3,291,621, 3,326,702, 3,498,806, and 3,627,548.
Before the colorants are added, a decolorizer may be added to a batched glass composition of the base flint glass in the glass melt furnace to ensure a generally colorless appearance of the glass. But the decolorizer, such as selenium, tends to dull the effect of the colorants added downstream in the forehearths. Accordingly, additional materials accompany the decolorizer to counteract such detrimental effects of the decolorizer. For example, arsenic oxide or hexavalent chromium have been added to neutralize selenium. U.S. patents that illustrate glass compositions of this type for glass containers include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,923,635, and 2,923,636. In other implementations, selenium can be added in the forehearths downstream of the glass melt furnace, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,948.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a container glass composition having an oxide of vanadium and an oxide of selenium to produce substantially clear glass containers with a relative non-green appearance and with good blocking of ultraviolet light.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A flint glass container in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes an improvement for blocking ultraviolet light penetration into the container while providing decolorization in container glass, wherein the container glass includes an oxide of vanadium and an oxide of selenium present in the container glass in an amount ranging between 0.016 wt % and 0.175 wt % total.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a glass container having a glass composition including soda-lime base glass materials, and additives including an oxide of vanadium and an oxide of selenium retained in the container glass in an amount ranging between 0.016 wt % and 0.175 wt % total.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of making glass containers including the steps of preparing a batched glass composition including soda-lime base glass materials, and including an oxide of vanadium and an oxide of selenium in an amount ranging between 0.035 wt % and 0.25 wt % total, melting the batched glass composition in a glass melt furnace to produce a molten batched glass, forming the glass containers from the molten batched glass, and annealing the glass containers.
In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of making glass containers including steps of preparing a batched glass composition including soda-lime base glass materials, and additives including an oxide of vanadium and an oxide of selenium in substantially equal amounts, melting the batched glass composition in a glass melt furnace to produce a molten batched glass, forming the glass containers from the molten batched glass, and annealing the glass containers.